Who moved my manpower?

I had a new guy join us in accounts recently and in a casual conversation I got know that his father owns and runs a workshop for two wheelers in the suburbs. I went ahead and asked him that did it never occur to him to join his father in his business. The reply- my father told me to get my hands greasy only if I failed with the pen. It is a dying trade and getting mechanics to work for you is difficult.

The answer was a familiar one considering most of my father’s friends were connected to the auto business in some or the other way. The one who was an expert in auto engineering had only two mechanics and one electrician handling all the work for an average 7 cars daily. A day when either was away meant he either had to send the car to another place or hold the job for the time being.

The other who managed the tin work was short on painters. The act of hammering a body part to shape was abandoned as there was no one available for the job. Cut- replace panel-weld-paint was the new mantra as it was less dependent on skilled labour availability.

All the three maintained one opinion; this was a result of acute shortage in people who wanted to work in these professions any more. They would rather like to while away time all day not doing anything. If someone did join in, they would spend a few months, get to learn on the job and set up their own shop with the limited know how. The result: they do a shoddy job and loses credibility for everyone.

Workers for such jobs are both local and migrants. The local usually comprised of the ones who did not wish to work unless they felt the job was up to a level they are happy with. They would rather prefer a job as a loader or cleaner in a mall. Why spend the whole day in smoke and greasy palms when they had the option to spend the day in AC to lift a few boxes or clean a lavatory once in a while? The migrants were not looking for long term jobs. They were all up for making the quick buck and spending 3 months in their native on agricultural jobs on their own land.

Bottom line- in an urban space there is work and odd jobs for the taking; the problem is there are few takers.

But this problem is not reserved to the urban landscape of India alone. A typical problem in Indian agriculture has been majority of the farm lands being small and which are not suited for use of large tractors, harvesters and mechanized farm equipment. As a result, most of the work has been majorly handled by farm labourers and landless farmers who toil in the slashing rains and sweltering heat. But in recent times, farm labour has become scarce and expensive.

A traditional woe I used to hear from in around my piece of land was that rapid industrialization offered better opportunities for the youth to earn better and throughout the year and it was eroding the agrarian labour force. What I recently also came to know from the news lines is a new giant has come up to disrupt the rural economy- NREGA.

Launched in 2005 by the government, the purpose of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was to facilitate small and landless farmers with employment opportunities during the months when agricultural activities are on a standstill. The government would engage the labourers for a minimum of 100 days per year in rural developmental activities within a radius of 5 Km (10% extra wages if they had to go beyond) for rural developmental activities like irrigation facilities, afforestation, all year access etc. Since the claim was towards creating jobs rather than build rural infrastructure, I felt this was something on lines of what Roosevelt has done post the depression in US.

As noble as the idea was, the news reports claimed that implementation of NREGA has been shoddy and planning and timing of the projects was not as per the season cycle for agriculture. (http://www.firstbiz.com/economy/bad-mnrega-jobs-planning-causing-farm-labour-shortage-panel-44231.html) With minimum wages of Rs 175 per day, NREGA was in effect siphoning off farm labour that otherwise worked for as low as Rs 80 with small farmers. This has given us two damaging results: rural labour becoming scarce and what is available is expensive. This in turn is hurting the agricultural produce.

And again, human nature has the power to defeat an ideology based government policy. NREGA offers employment and money to go around while Food Safety bill ensures there is something to eat at the end of the day- so why should one work? I found this report in another newspaper which further gave an insight into a small farmer’s plight. (http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-how-nrega-and-food-security-will-impact-poll-outcome-in-bihar-1984464)

I would like to refrain from making any sweeping statements here; but one thing is for sure- rural or urban, people have lost their pride and dignity in labour. If livelihood is being offered on a platter- the labourers will grab it wholeheartedly and leave their employer wonder who does my job now?